Cameron Urges Bold Action to Drive Growth

U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron on Thursday called on European leaders to join a “coalition of the willing” to end the debt crisis and kick-start economic growth.

In a speech delivered to delegates at the annual World Economic Forum gathering in Davos, Mr. Cameron said competitiveness needs to be boosted and that now was the time for the region’s governments to show leadership in the effort to end the debt crisis which has brought the economies of Europe to their knees.

He said the U.K. was pursuing an unashamedly pro-business agenda and said the financial transaction tax being proposed by some euro-zone members was “madness” in the current climate.

The U.K. prime minister’s call comes after the International Monetary Fund cut its growth estimates for the world economy Tuesday and warned the euro-zone debt crisis could cut two percentage points off world-wide output this year and next if the bloc’s leaders don’t act soon.

Mr. Cameron is also under growing pressure to get the U.K. economy moving after official data released Wednesday showed gross domestic product dropped 0.2% in the fourth quarter of 2011, the first quarterly contraction for one year.